New York state legislators sent a bill to Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk on Tuesday that would legally shield doctors who prescribe abortion pills to women in states that have laws protecting unborn babies.
The bill, A.01709, further enables abortion providers in New York to provide abortion telehealth services to out-of-state patients and establishes that the state will not cooperate with cases prosecuting doctors in New York who provide telehealth abortion or “reproductive services” to women in other states.
Medical professionals who offer abortion telehealth services are also shielded from professional discipline “solely for providing reproductive health services to patients residing in states where such services are illegal,” according to a New York Assembly press release.
“As anti-choice extremists continue to roll back reproductive care across the country, New York remains a sanctuary state for access,” Speaker Carl Heastie said in a statement.
“It is our moral obligation to help women across the country with their bodily autonomy by protecting New York doctors from litigation efforts from anti-choice extremists,” Heastie claimed. “Telehealth is the future of healthcare, and this bill is simply the next step in making sure our doctors are protected.”
Assemblymember Karines Reyes, a registered nurse who sponsored the bill, said in a statement that she is “proud to sponsor this critical piece of legislation to fully protect abortion providers using telemedicine.”
“I continue to be deeply concerned with anti-choice activists’ efforts to undermine doctors in their ability to adequately provide for their patients and to undermine the patient’s control of their own body,” Reyes said. “These anti-choice bills have a tangibly negative impact on patients’ health and well-being and New York refuses to stand for it.”
The bill builds on the package of legislation, signed in 2022, to protect abortion providers from out-of-state litigation efforts by explicitly addressing services provided through telehealth, according to the assembly.
“Currently, the law does not provide protection against out-of-state litigation for the use of telehealth, and therefore puts doctors at risk for providing care to those in states with laws restricting reproductive health care,” the press release states. “This bill expands protections for telehealth providers by providing them the same protections afforded to doctors in other states with strong reproductive healthcare shield laws.”
Hochul has indicated she would support a shield law for abortionists, CNN reported.
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